At The Drive-in

Frances the Mute is TMV's best record and their greatest achievement.

there's a few mars volta threads dudes

calling 4-5 of their records "classics" is a real reach imo, they put out like 2.5 good records

what was good about the last few atdi is that it feels constantly like a prog monster is being born out of the head of a post-hardcore band. idk if it's possible to achieve that tension anymore but imo the new record comes awful close, and i think there are very few bands and even fewer
records that explored this particular sound

also much as i enjoy the mars volta, said tension >>>>>>> anything the mars volta ever did

and, as a huge sparta fan, i thought jim ward was essential to the recipe. turns out, not exactly

in/casino/out? CLASSIC
vaya? CLASSIC
relationship of command? CLASSIC
tremulant ep? CLASSIC
de-loused? CLASSIC
frances? CLASSIC
amputechture? YEP, CLASSIC

i'm out, u can count

lmao ok dude

i too enjoy omar and cedric in the ep format

Listening to this again, and 'Continuum' and 'Tilting at the Univendor' back-to-back is just one mighty fucking slab of rawk.

otm

i mean continuum -> tilting -> governed -> pendulum is a great run

I completely agree. I also have absolutely no complaints about the production of this record at all - it's absolutely what an At the Drive-In record should sound like in 2017, and I think the pristine production values suit the band right now. If the band had hooked up with Ross Robinson again and tried to recapture the intensity of their earlier work as men in their early 40's, that would just be fucking sad to me.

this just sounds like a continuation of the Ross Robinson sound. there was immediacy on In/Casino/Out and Vaya.

This sounds fuck all like a Ross Robinson production.

it's got some of the swimming overdriven quality of relationship of command but otherwise yeah idgi

The new record is still holding up well - still love it.

where's jim?

^ On ILX with amnesia, it seems!

man I asked Cedric on Twitter why they were touring with the pro trump dude from DFA 1979 and his answers were so weird to me considering him and Omar have been like suck Mexican American activists for years smh

https://i.imgur.com/jcyhA45.png

I can see where he's coming from, didn't this stuff about DFA dude come to light p recently? Cancelling a tour or removing a support act & finding a new one is pretty hard & I imagine the contracts they have don't allow ideological differences as legitimate reasons for reneging. And, as gross & weird as the PB are, it's a step below working with abusers/predators/etc., which I'm sure they've done too, knowingly or not.

eh the "its just a paycheck" is such a bullshit reason though from someone that has been an outspoken pro-Mexican activist for years. he's an idiot.

and no the DFA dude has been appearing on the Gavin McInnes show for years. people just don't give a shit about them enough to care. another reason why the "paycheck" reason sucks.

WHERE'S JIM!?!

imo Cedric & Omar have been wildly inconsistent w/r/t their relationship with their fans & their activism/ideology/how much they actually give a shit... they've pulled the most cliched rock star shit before in the past... specifically thinking of the time Cedric made The Mars Volta cancel a show at the last minute because he got into a fight with Thomas Pridgen...

xp I didn't know DFA dude had been on there for years. I mean yeah, "it's just a paycheck" is another example of him negating the righteous DIY / humanist attitude of ATDI and the first several TMV records. over the years I've learned they're not that principled when it comes to getting paid.

yah i guess they really are sucky idiots

that is disappointing

the other day reading his feed on Weinstein etc I thought his writing style was similar to urs ch4ki lol

(you totally owned him there though, sheesh)

Chaki ask him if he slings crack out of the van, and if not, why not, it's good money

my general reaction to this is to shrug it off tbh. at the end of the day they're still touring america playing stuff like "Invalid Litter Dept"

ha slightly off topic but I was thinking about how Cedric used to introduce "Hulahoop Wounds" in the 90s... he'd rattle off a list of people that inspired them, like "THIS IS ABOUT THE PEOPLE THAT HAVE INSPIRED US TO DO WHAT WE DO... PEOPLE LIKE CLIFF BURTON, SYD BARRET, OTIS REDDING, LENNY BRUCE, KATHLEEN HANNA, ANDY KAUFMAN..." i was just laughing imagining him listing like 50 people and running over their set time lol

ANDERSON COOPER, ROBBIE ROBERTSON, BIG BIRD, SYLVESTER STALLONE

CHARLES NELSON REILLY AND SQUEAKY FROMME. GOOD NIGHT BIRMINGHAM!

any music journos reading this - it would be cool if you asked them about this during this next tour press cycle

great set from 98/99

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNfPW-hLo4A

they're putting out an ep soon

Precision, watch the scalpel make roads
Hear them talk in paranoid parables
Widows, six legged lost and found

nice xp. haven't revisited the new LP much but glad they're making more new music

inseminating motives of lukewarm persistence
let the thieves in through the front door
let them take what they've been missing

i love you cedric

Song Cycle!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TV0ldjAKiLo

Holy shit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ma02w2oAnZs

new ep is really good!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4ZPTIY1OHs

I was expecting castoffs from the album sessions but these are actually great?

yeah, they're great. better than anything on the album

i don't agree with that entirely but these songs really push their sound forward

"tilting at the univendor" is still the best nu-atdi track

this makes me want to revisit the record, if nothing else this EP is very encouraging in that it shows them moving forward as you said, in that sense it reminds me of Vaya, which can only be a good thing

newly uploaded show from 1999, check this setlist:

Alpha Centauri
Chanbara
Heliotrope
Lopsided
Initiation
Pickpocket
Porfirio Diaz
Ursa Minor
Hulahoop Wounds
Napoleon Solo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQ9nO2cF95g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGRAxNuTF1o

hell yeah